City of Preetz

Preetz City Flag acc. to Roll of Arms

Description of flag:
The ratio is 3:5. It is a blue over white over red horizontal tricolour with ratio approx. 1:2:1. The coat of arms is in the white stripe and shifted to the hoist.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 Feb 2013

Preetz doubtful City Flag reported 1970

3:5 speculative image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 Feb 2013

Description of flag:
The ratio is 3:5. It is a blue over white over red horizontal tricolour. The coat of arms with inescutcheon is in the the centre of the flag.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 Feb 2013

Preetz Coat of Arms

Description of coat of arms:
The shield is divided by a golden (= yellow) fess wavy into blue over red. Above is a silver (=white) perch, below is a silver (= white) nettle leaf.
Stadler displays a different coat of arms. The fess wavy is silver (= white). The fish is armed golden (=yellow) (remark: in Germany in case of fish also called beflosst, which means literally: having fins). The nettle leaf has an inescutcheon, which is divided per fess into silver (= white) over red.
Meaning:
The nettle leaf is allding to the counts of Schauenburg-Holstein. The perch is symbolizing riches of fish, the importance of fishery and fish breeding in the monastery of Benedictine nuns. The fess wavy is symbolizing a ford or bridge(?) crossing the Schwentine River, being the border between Holstein and Wagrien (the nowadays Ostholstein), which had been under Slavic control in the early medieval. The village gained city rights in 1870. According to the Hauptsatzung, version 1877, Preetz then had no proper flag. In the same year Hans Baron of Weißenbach was ordered to design a coat of arms for a fries of the new administration building in Schleswig. It is not sure, whether the arms were approved officially, they were however in use since then. A few years later there was confusion about the correct tinctures (see above remarks about the Stadler version). In 1979 the original tinctures were chosenand the arms were redesigned,confirmed and approved officially.
Source: Reißmann 1997, p.276 and Stadler 1970, p.106

Flag and coat of arms were approved on 9 April 1979. The artists are Hans Frieder Kühne and Hans Baron of Weißenbach.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 Feb 2013